Monday, December 28, 2015

A yearly tradition on this blog at
the end of the year is a round-up of the top apps that I found to be
indispensable. Some apps stay on the list, and then new ones get added. As 2015
is coming to a close, here's my list for this year.

My love for Evernote is clear to
anyone who reads this blog, and this year I expanded the way I use it. I already
used this app, both on my laptop and my iPhone to keep track of recipes,
articles I wanted to come back to, and my lists for planning work. This year I also
used Evernote to save versions of my author bio and other aspects for my book
promotion efforts. I was able to save a lot of time keeping the frequently used
documents I need in Evernote. One of my favorite uses is to tag notes I use
over and over as a shortcut. Being able to create separate notebooks for each
book and each aspect of the publishing process made everything easier, as I branched
out with more promotional efforts this year.

This tool, available both as a
downloadable app and through your favorite web browser, has become another
indispensable tool. I schedule most of my social media promotional efforts
through Buffer, and the ease of use of the tool as well as the helpful tips and
articles provided by the team make it one of my favorite apps. I keep finding
new ways to use it and ways to save me time and hassle that never occurred to
me earlier. I definitely recommend the excellent Buffer blog (link) for tons of
social media marketing advice.

This year I finally read David
Allen's productivity bible, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity and I decided to
implement the system. I tried several new list management apps, and ended up abandoning
each after a month or so. I returned to
Wunderlist, and implemented my own version of GTD. I love Wunderlist because it
is simple. I created separate lists for each type or function of work, and
created specific Someday lists for these functions, so I can save ideas that
occur to me, but don’t need to be done right away. I have found this system has
been working remarkably well for me recently, and I have been getting more done
with far less stress. Wunderlist allows you to make more lists than you will
need, and you can modify your favorite productivity system to suit your needs
and match it with Wunderlist.

For the first time on this list,
Scannable is an app for the iPad and iPhone that captures paper through the
camera, and scans it into a high-quality image that can be emailed or stored in
Evernote. I use it to scan work-related checks and receipts easily, or keep an
image of a document that I need. It is incredibly easy to use and the resulting
scans are very high quality. The app can also be used to scan business cards
and convert them into contacts, but that is a feature that I have yet to use. I
very rarely have access to an office scanner, but with Scannable, lately I have
never found that to be a problem.

Scribd is an e-book subscription
service, with thousands of books by both indie and traditionally published
authors, as well as an impressive audiobook collection. I found using the
Scribd app allowed me to make the most of all my travel via public transport,
and I ended up reading far more books than I would otherwise. I like to read
4-5 books at a time, which is easy with the app. The app also keeps track of
which books were read in which month, and as I recently updated my 2015 reading
list, this data was pretty useful. If the idea of a subscription service
appeals to you, the Scribd app is pretty great.

While the list is technically for
the top 5 apps, I had to mention Fitbit. I believe that fitness is really
important to being more productive and creative, and my Fitbit app keeps me on
track, ensuring I get more exercise than I might otherwise. The iPhone app is
quite handy, and I have completely given up using the desktop application. You can
track your steps, activity, food, water and sleep using the app, although I only
use it for automatically tracking my steps and sleep quality. Not everyone
needs or appreciates so much life data, but I kind of got hooked on the idea of
seeing trends and using the patterns from the data to make improvements in
one's life, and now I love the idea of having as much personalized data about
my activities as possible. If you like that idea, the Fitbit app is
well-designed and works well. The only grouse I have is with the design of the
tracker – charging it requires removing it from the band and I end up needing
to replace the band pretty often. Other than that, I love my Fitbit.

I hope this list inspires some of
you reading this post to try out a new app. All of the apps mentioned above are
either free, or have a free package (Scribd comes with a 14-day free trial), so
it doesn’t cost anything to try. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and a
productive and wonderful new year!

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

I won Nanowrimo for the first time
this year, even though I have been a member for the past 9 years. Most years I just
watched from the sidelines, too afraid to even dip my toe in. I have wanted to
be a writer most of my life, and although usually that means writing fiction, with
the exception of school writing assignments, and a play that I co-wrote which wasn’t
entirely fictional, I never managed to complete a single piece of fiction
writing, not even a short story. I started many things, but gave up after a few
pages.

Even though I signed up for
Nanowrimo several times, by the time the first of November rolled around, I had
given myself enough viable excuses and chickened out. My story wasn’t complex
enough. It was too complex. I had t do a ton of research first. One year I started,
wrote around 8,000 words, and then went home for the festival season and
basically gave up because I got behind on my word count.

This year, I decided, would be
different. I chose a story that I had already roughed out. I gave notice to
friends and family and made a strong internal commitment. I carved out extra
time, and reduced some of the other things on my plate. I was going to do this,
I was excited about my book and the characters, and I couldn’t wait to spend a
month going on an adventure with them. When November 1st arrived, I started
off with enthusiasm, and started hitting near my word count targets the first
few days. But then I started to hit snags, was having trouble with the story,
and also decided at the last minute to travel home to New Delhi for Diwali. Uh oh,
trouble for the book right? Given what happened the last time Diwali and Nanowrimo
collided, and Diwali won, I was apprehensive. But then I convinced myself that I
could keep going – even if I fell behind, as long as I wrote around 500 words a
day, I could catch up eventually. Except when I was home, I had less free time
than I thought, and what little time I had I couldn’t motivate myself to spend
that writing about characters who were boring me. I hated them and I hated the
book. But I couldn’t exactly give up, I had proudly told many people I was
participating in Nano this year, and had even mentioned it on an interview I gave
about my published books.

I got back to Singapore, and I had
barely written around 6,000 words and I had about 11 days in which to get to
50,000 words. Not to mention I hated my book, the characters were flat, and I was
considering starting over with a new project. Seeing the reality of how much I already
had to write, and given the lack of any other ideas that I could take to novel
length, I decided to stick to my story, and stick it out somehow. I wrote in
coffee shops, restaurants, even on the bus. I became crabby, and abruptly ended
conversations. I was barely present in conversations, and almost everything
else took a backseat. But my word count slowly edged up. I got to 10,000 words,
then 15,000 and then 20K. As I inched closer to my target, my writing seemed to
improve. Most days however, all I could see were the glaring flaws in my
manuscript. At least once a day I wanted to quit, and several times a day I said
out loud, "I hate this book!" But I kept going, sheer stubbornness
fueling me at this point.

Yesterday, with a few hours to go, I
finally crossed the finish line, with 50,500 words. This was despite the fact
that I battled fever for the last few days, and this morning I felt so ill, I contemplated
cancelling everything and just crawling back into bed. By early evening I still
had almost 6,000 words to go, and no idea what to even write for the final
scenes (I am a pantser, not a plotter). And yet, somehow, the ideas were flowing,
and my characters were finally saying and doing interesting things and before I
knew it, I had done it.

Before the euphoria of this moment
wears off, I want to capture the lessons that I learned through this process:

1. Be grateful for every bit of support you
get from the people in your life. I was very grumpy and generally
unpleasant to be around some days, especially when the writing was going slower
than I had hoped. My family put up with that version of me, knowing it wasn’t personal,
it was just the stress of not writing enough. Plus, I got meals made and dishes
washed, which helped, not only physically, but psychologically.

2. Doing one tough thing is like doing other
tough things. It occurred to me at least once every day, that there were
some people who found it relatively easy to sit down and get their word quota
in every day, probably those same people who passed by cookies and doughnuts
and didn’t give in. Or those that went for a run even when it was raining or
too hot or there was a Harry Potter marathon on TV. I wasn’t one of those
people, and this exercise taught me that I would like to change that fact. I am
hoping that winning in Nano means that I will finally win the war against
cookies. Here's hoping!

3. Work
stretches to fill the time you give it. Most days at the coffee shop I hit
a wall after a certain number of words. I couldn’t stare at the screen anymore,
my mind was beginning to shut down, and I just figured I could make up the
difference at home after dinner. And sometimes I did, by staying late. I always
managed to just be shy of my target though, whether it was word count or time. I
always took the entire time allotted. Today I didn’t have that luxury, I had a
lot more words to complete than on other days, and I wanted to do it early enough
to validate before the crush of last-minute validaters slowed down the servers.
I wrote the remainder of my word count, just under 6,000 words, in 4 hours, including
breaks to make tea and eat snacks. This past week on many occasions I spent that
amount of time in a coffee-shop writing, and still only managed 1,800 to 2,000
words. Each individual writes at a different pace, but my point is that when I gave
myself more time, I used every minute. On those days when I was pressed for
time, my fingers miraculously speeded up and I got my quota done in time.

4. Doing something seemingly crazy actually
makes you feel more sane. Although in the online world it sometimes feels
like everyone is a writer, and everyone is doing Nano, in the real world I don’t
know a single person who is doing this. Which makes me feel slightly crazy when
I try to explain my endeavor to friends and family who look at me like I am
slightly nuts, but in a good way. Taking the time to do this thing, which meant
a lot to me, has paradoxically helped me to become a far more 'normal' and nice
person to be around. Sure while I was racing headlong towards my deadline I was
like a bear with a sore head, but now that that part is over, I suddenly find
myself inclined to be far more patient, more caring of others' feelings, and
just feel generally more empathetic.

5. You can achieve a lot, given a deadline and
support. The main reason that Nano works so well is that you have a tight
deadline and a clear goal, and a supportive community. In my case though, I was
too shy to take advantage of the built-in support, to reach out to others in
the forums or to attend any local write-ins. I substituted that for the
anonymous support of coffee shops and libraries, and typed furiously whilst
others did homework on tables near me. I am hoping now to apply this same formula
to other goals that I have previously thought were too hairy and audacious to
attempt.

Whether you participated in
Nanowrimo (and therefore know the unique and crazy nature of this challenge) or
not, I hope you get to experience the adrenaline-fueled adventure of setting a
huge goal (whatever seems appropriate to you) and going all out towards it. Whether
you ultimately "win" your goal or not, just the attempt is sure to
teach you many lessons.

Please share your stories in the
comments – have you ever set a crazy
impossible goal, and how did you go for it?